Always and Forever
by KatyBaker
Summary: *Post season 5* Melinda and Jim are happy and expecting their second child, but when an angry spirit who lost her baby begins to torment Melinda, she must find a way to cross the spirit over while trying to maintain her sanity.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 _Cold. Melinda was so, so cold. The outside temperature reading in her car said that it was seventeen degrees outside, but in her ridiculously thin cardigan, it may as well have been minus seventeen. She had never felt so cold in her entire life._

 _Her leg was trapped under the steering column, and she was almost positive that her collar bone was broken. Maybe her nose, too; she wasn't sure. The pain was excruciating. That wasn't the first thing on her mind, though; she was worried about the baby. She felt no pain in her belly, but she wasn't entirely sure that particularly indicated that nothing was wrong. Her legs felt numb, but she could move her toes, so she knew she wasn't paralyzed. Still, the thought of dying here, and her baby dying inside her, too, in the frigid cold, made her want to throw up. She let out a loud cry of frustration, followed by a strangled cry for help, just in case somebody could hear her. She knew nobody could, though, deep inside._

 _Then, she heard it. Dripping. Sizzling. And the smell of gasoline was strong all of a sudden. Two seconds after it registered in Melinda's head what was happening, the front of the car went up in flames._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

That first day started like any normal day, really. Melinda's alarm clock ripped her out of a halfway peaceful sleep at 7:45am, and she was not pleased. She had had severe difficulties sleeping lately. She was three months pregnant with her and Jim's second child, and already the baby was getting in moods during which he or she would kick constantly and painfully, sometimes keeping her awake all night.

The sky outside the bay window that morning in her and Jim's bedroom was gray and dull; it looked like it could start pouring rain at any moment. Already, at only 7:45 in the morning, something felt off. Melinda felt like there was a cloud hanging over her, a feeling she had only been familiar with a few times before, and each time, it was related to a spirit. And each time the spirit was a bitch to cross over.

Reluctantly, Melinda climbed out of bed and stumbled to Aiden's room to get him dressed and ready for school. Jim had left for work at the hospital around four o'clock that morning, meaning all Melinda had to do was get Aiden off to school and force herself to go to work. She made French toast for breakfast after getting Aiden dressed, and he was on the bus by 8:00am. Then, after dressing herself in jeans, a white maternity t-shirt and an extremely loose cardigan, Melinda was out into the rainy morning by 8:15.

Knowing she had plenty of time before work, Melinda stopped at Village Java for a green tea, one of her random pregnancy cravings. As she was in line, the strangest feeling came over her and, knowing there was something — or some _one_ — there, she scanned the room with her eyes. The coffee shop was fairly full, considering it was Friday morning and most people, like her, were on their way to work and needed their coffee or whatever their poison was.

For a moment, Melinda saw nothing, no one, but she could _feel_ someone there, watching her. Watching everybody. She couldn't describe the way she felt. She was chilled and sick to her stomach, but that wasn't all. She felt so dizzy she was sure she was about to fall over, and she grabbed on to a nearby table. Something told her that wasn't the pregnancy and was instead something else entirely. Then, in the corner, she saw her.

The spirit was a young woman, maybe twenty-one or so. She was blonde and absolutely stunning, but that wasn't the first thing Melinda noticed. She was staring at Melinda angrily, a piercing stare that she swore could have burned holes right through her. The girl knew Melinda could see her, but Melinda looked away anyway, hoping she spirit would get the hint that she was _not_ in the mood today, not that she was ever in the mood to deal with a spirit like that.

Finally, it was Melinda's turn to order so she stepped up and ordered a small green tea, still attempting unsuccessfully to ignore the spirit. As spirits do, the girl made it incredibly difficult and appeared right next to Melinda, causing her to jump a mile and earn herself a few stares from people around her. "You have to help me. I have to get back what's mine," were the girl's first words to Melinda, and she sounded so unbelievably angry that it sent a chill racing down Melinda's spine and turned her blood to ice.

"Not right now," Melinda said through her teeth, trying to be discreet, one hand protectively on her stomach as she waited for her order off to the side.

" _Now!_ " the girl yelled, and a cold gust of wind blew through the small coffee shop, causing confused looks from other customers as they looked around, wondering what the hell was going on. Finally, Melinda's order was ready and she raced out the door, ignoring the fact that she was so dizzy she could have easily fallen down. The girl followed her, of course.

"Okay, you know what?" Melinda said loudly as she rounded the corner to a little spot where she was sure no one would see her. "Talking to me like that is _not_ the way to get me to help you. What is your name and what do you want?" She felt like she was talking to their six-year-old son instead of who she was pretty sure was a grown woman.

"Don't you _know_ who I am?" The spirit continued to stare at Melinda angrily, eyeing Mel's pregnant stomach. "My name is Erin. He's a murderer. He took what's mine, and now I need _you_ to help me take what's his."

"Okay, you're going to have to be a bit more specific—" The spirit — Erin — disappeared mid-sentence, leaving Melinda feeling even more sick than usual, wondering what she meant when she acted like Melinda should know who she was.

 _I'll check news sources online at the store_ , she thought as she began the trek back to her car, her green tea in her hand. The rain stopped halfway to the store, making Melinda wish she had just walked from Village Java, but then it started again, and she rushed into her toasty antique shop right at 8:30. Knowing she had another thirty minutes until they opened, she pulled her laptop out of her bag and plugged it in up on the counter. Typing in "Erin + death + Grandview," three news stories from two days ago popped up.

Melinda had assumed that it was probably a murder by the way that Erin was talking, but she wasn't prepared for what she found. The little snippet she read was from the newspaper in Bay Ridge, a town not far from Grandview.

 _In the early-morning hours of December 10th, a man walking his dog on a trail in northern Bay Ridge stumbled upon a human skull, immediately calling police, and the skull has officially been identified by dental records as that belonging to Erin Grant, 22, a Grandview woman who went missing in 1995 after supposedly being discharged from the Parkway Psychiatric Hospital in Bay Ridge. Nearby more bones were located: a humerus, a femur, ribs, and a fibula._

 _At the time of her admission to the psychiatric hospital, the victim had been suffering from severe postpartum depression after giving birth to her first child and was involuntarily committed by her husband, Michael Grant of Bay Ridge. Foul play is suspected considering the state of the bones, and a murder investigation into her death has now begun, but police have no immediate leads. If you have a tip, call the Bay Ridge Police Department._

After she finished reading it, Melinda slammed her laptop shut with unnecessary force. She felt sick. Erin had only been twenty-two, plenty younger than Melinda herself, with literally her entire life ahead of her, and it had all been ripped away.

There was something else, though, something that was bothering Mel. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it almost seemed as though Erin was angry with Melinda specifically, instead of only the man who took her life, which made absolutely no sense at all. She sipped her green tea quietly, pondering, biting the inside of her cheek and staring out the front window. The town square looked beautiful all the time, but especially in the rain, which was coming down in sheets now.

What Erin herself had said and what that article said haunted Melinda for the rest of the afternoon, which was slow business-wise, and that didn't help. It just gave her time to sit there and wonder what to do. She wasn't sure what else she _could_ do for Erin until she appeared again and gave Melinda more information. This was going to be a weird day.

* * *

The day was long and slow. By 4:30, Erin had never reappeared, which was frustrating enough, and on top of that, the store had only had sixteen customers (yes, she counted). It left Melinda far _too_ much time to think. Jim had called around three o'clock to tell her that he had picked Aiden up and asked her if she was alright. Even though she really felt quite down and blah, she did her best to convince him that she was fine. It didn't work, and by the time the phone call ended, she had promised him she would close up early and come home at five o'clock, much earlier than normal.

The doors of the store were locked by 4:45, and Melinda was in her car on the way home within five minutes. She was almost home when Erin _finally_ appeared again, and she seemed even angrier than before. "I read about what happened to you," Melinda said before Erin could say anything. "Do you remember anything about what happened to you? Anything at all? I just want to help."

When Erin spoke, it was quiet, and there was no anger in her voice. Melinda almost couldn't hear her over the rain that was beating against her car windows. "I've been wandering for so long. Lost. And then all of a sudden, I felt a pull. To you. To Grandview. I grew up here." Melinda snuck a look over at Erin, and Melinda could have sworn Erin's blue eyes were filled with tears. Gone was the angry girl she had first met. "I can't remember _anything_. All I know is that I never left."

And with that, Erin was gone, leaving Melinda as confused as ever. _All I know is that I never left._ Melinda turned Erin's words over and over in her mind the rest of the way home.

Melinda pulled in the driveway and breathed a sigh of relief, extremely anxious to eat an entire pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and take a hot bath, and see her son and husband. She knew Jim would probably ask what was wrong, and he did, almost the second she walked in the door. "What happened today?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her as she closed the door with her foot. Her facial expression must have given her away, like always.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" she lied, hugging him tight.

"You just didn't sound right on the phone. Ghost?" Jim pulled away and studied her face. She wasn't meeting his eyes, and that told him everything he needed to know. _Definitely a ghost._

She nodded. "Did you hear about the bones they found in Bay Ridge?" she asked as she hung her cardigan up, hoping he would put two and two together.

"Yeah, I heard a couple guys at the hospital talking about it. Is that your ghost?"

All Melinda could do was nod again. "I just really don't want to talk about this right now. It's been a long day. I'm ready to go take a bath and maybe try to eat something." She scanned the house with her eyes. "Where's Aiden?"

Jim smiled at the mention of their son. "Upstairs, playing. He finished his worksheet for school and I gave him his bath. He's got a couple hours of playtime before bed." He sighed and put his hands on his wife's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "After your bath, will you tell me what happened today and why you sounded like you did on the phone?"

Melinda nodded reluctantly and wrapped her arms around her husband's waist, kissing him once before resting her head on his chest. "I think I can do that," she said, hoping maybe he would forget. But really, that wasn't like Jim at all.

Melinda gave him one last squeeze and climbed the stairs to draw herself a bath, throwing Jim a glance over her shoulder. The nearly scalding hot bath water was divine and relaxed Melinda's muscles almost completely, melting away at least some of the stress. Even the bath couldn't take away the strange feeling she had had since that morning, a feeling of depression and lingering dread that she couldn't explain. Soon, though, Melinda sank down into the water, and slowly drifted off, listening to the drip of faucet…

 _Melinda couldn't breathe. There were hands wrapped tightly around her neck, constricting her airway almost completely. There was a baby crying nearby, loudly, a piercing and pained cry. At first, with the edges of her vision darkening, she couldn't make out the face of the man who was attempting to viciously strangle her; all she could see was the outline of him, and feel his hands around her throat._

 _The man was violently shaking her as he choked her, slamming her head into something hard repeatedly, so hard her vision blacked out completely for a moment. And then, when her vision was clear, she saw him. It was Jim's face, and Jim's hands wrapped around her neck._

Melinda woke up screaming louder than she had ever screamed in her entire life. Jim had climbed the stairs, busted through the bathroom door and was at her side in seconds, wrapping her in a towel and lifting her up out of the water by her arms. "Mel! What happened? Are you okay?" His blue eyes were frantic, searching her face and her body for injuries.

Melinda cried into Jim's shoulder for a moment, unable to speak. When she finally did, it was shaky and weak, wavering with emotion. "I fell asleep in the tub. I had a dream, or a nightmare, really." Jim nodded, listening intently, stroking her arms comfortingly all the while. "It was about my ghost, I think. She was being strangled… I couldn't see his face at first. I was being choked and he was bashing my head against something, but when I could see clearly…" She trailed off, shivering. Jim hugged her close. "He had your face."

Confused, he studied Melinda again, unsure of what to say. That was when he saw them. On her neck, there were marks shaped perfectly like fingers, like somebody had attempted to choke her to death. He said nothing and hugged Melinda tightly to his chest, rubbing her back.

It was going to be a long night, and even he knew that this spirit was going to be a hard one.


	3. Chapter 2

An hour later, Jim had his wife wrapped up in a robe, sitting on the couch with her hands wrapped around a cup of tea, her hair still wet. He hadn't left her side once since the bathroom incident, and he didn't plan to anytime soon. She had been shaking nonstop, and honestly, so had he. And she'd hardly said anything since.

"Mel, this sure has escalated quickly," Jim stated as he sat down next to his wife on the couch. "Was this ghost _trying_ to hurt you?"

"No," Melinda said shakily, lifting her mug to her lips with trembling hands. "She was just showing me what happened to her, I think. But it was so _violent_." Mel shivered and huddled deeper into the robe, tucking her face into Jim's shoulder.

"Obviously," Jim said drily, running his fingers over the finger marks on her neck gingerly. When she cringed a little, he dropped his hand and instead stroked her arm with it. "But what was with the man who was attacking you — or her — having my face? I don't understand it."

Melinda shook her head and set her mug down on the table in front of the couch before snuggling underneath Jim's arm, one of her hands resting on her pregnant stomach. "I'm not sure exactly. Remember that ghost I had a few years ago who showed me the man that had kidnapped her in my vision, and he had your face?" Jim nodded, and she continued, "She was trying to tell me she was taken by someone she loved. Maybe that's what Erin is telling me, too." Melinda shrugged, doubting herself. "I don't know. Just a theory."

Jim simply nodded. The two were silent for a few minutes, simply sitting there on the couch, Jim rubbing Melinda's arm and comforting her without saying a single word. Finally, when the silence broke, it wasn't Melinda or Jim who spoke. It was a little voice coming from behind them. "Mom, are you okay?"

They both whirled around to see Aiden standing at the foot of the stairs, watching them with a mixture of curiosity and concern. Jim had already gotten him dressed in his pajamas, and he looked so cuddly that Melinda crooked her finger at him, telling him to come over to her. She hugged him tight and situated him between his parents, careful not to position him on her belly. "I'm okay," Melinda assured him, stroking his soft little cheek. "Did you see something?"

It gutted Melinda to know that their son had to, a lot of the time, see the horrible things she saw. It was one thing for a grown-ass woman to see those things; it was another thing entirely for a child to be exposed to them.

"Yeah," Aiden said with a nod. "I saw a girl. And a baby. And the girl was being choked." Aiden's eyes were wide with fear and he nestled his head against his mom's arm. "Did she die?"

Melinda hugged Aiden's head to her and missed the top of it. "I think so, baby. But don't worry about that tonight. Mommy will help her." Melinda looked at Jim, who was stroking Aiden's ankle softly. "Do you want Daddy to read to you in our bed until you fall asleep?"

Aiden nodded and Mel kissed his cheek twice and then his forehead before Jim scooped him up off the couch and carried him to their bedroom, like he had done with her so many times, under so many different circumstances.

Melinda softly stroked her neck, stroked the angry red marks there, with her other hand on her belly. She decided to take the moment alone to attempt to reach Erin. She stood up, despite being dizzy (Jim would have yanked her off her feet), her hands on her hips.

"Erin, can you please talk to me?" Melinda said, her right hand still resting on her stomach. The baby was kicking furiously, startling Melinda a little. Of course, Erin didn't appear at first, and Mel was pretty tempted already to go upstairs, lay in bed with Jim and Aiden and forget about everything and everyone.

"Erin, look. I want answers about that vision you just gave me." Melinda's voice was frustrated when she spoke.

Finally, there she was. Erin was standing in the corner of the living room, her hands clasped together. Her eyes were fierce. " _Look_ , Melinda," she mocked, "I didn't send you any vision. It was the other girl."

Melinda's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What other girl? I haven't seen anybody else." Melinda contemplated for a moment. Could the person who did that — whatever it was — to Erin have done the same thing to somebody else? Another girl?

Erin rolled her eyes obnoxiously, like it was just the most obvious answer in the world that she was about to give. "The other girl he did this to."

"Who? Who did this to you?"

"The man in white. I can't see his face in my head anymore. Just like I can't remember my mom and dad's faces." She looked sad again, cracking her tough exterior. She was a beautiful girl, really, despite her obnoxious attitude; she had stunning blue eyes and natural white-blonde hair, with a thin frame and tiny features.

"Was it in Parkway that this happened? Is that what you meant when you said you had never left?" Melinda was starting to put two and two together, despite the fact that she was about to pass out from exhaustion. Nearly being strangled to death, even in a vision, tended to do that to you.

Erin's eyes filled with tears, causing Melinda's to as well. "I can't _remember_ ," she said, anguish apparent in her voice. "I'm so sorry."

And that was that. Erin disappeared with a _whoosh_ , leaving Melinda with her head spinning and tears rushing down her cheeks. Mel could already tell that this ghost was going to be one that would influence her, her emotions and her physical health, and make it difficult for her to function.

Even dizzy, Melinda made it to the stairs just as Jim was coming down them, and he caught her before she hit the floor. "Mel," he said, hooking his hands under her arms in an attempt to help her stand. It didn't work. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Melinda looked up through teary brown eyes and saw the raw concern in Jim's beautiful blue eyes. "Erin," she said simply.

Jim needed no further explanation. He just grabbed her head and cradled her to his chest, rocking her back and forth and kissing her head. She wrapped her arms around Jim's, feeling safer than she could possibly explain. But the feeling of total sadness and confusion lingered, and feeling safe wasn't enough.

* * *

Melinda fell into a sleep that was so fitful she may as well have not slept at all. Sleeping with Aiden in their bed had never been easy. She considered carrying him to his bed but she knew Jim would be mad if he found out she carried their very long and tall six-year-old son, pregnant and dizzy. So she just lay there, thinking, going over ideas of what to do about Erin in her head.

She knew spirits could give her visions without appearing, but that didn't ease her curiosity about who the there girl was that Erin was talking about. The possibility of a serial killer lingered in her mind and made her even more sick to her stomach.

Melinda had no clue Jim was awake until he reached over Aiden and, in the darkness, grabbed her hand, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. "Can't sleep?" he asked, looking at her like she was his entire world. And she was. Her and their son and, now, the baby growing inside of her.

He knew her so well. She just nodded. "Is there anything I can do?" His eyes were so concerned, it made her own almost well up again. It seemed like she was constantly either crying or on the verge of crying lately, for one reason or another. This time, though, it was a good reason.

"Can you carry Aiden back to his bed? That might help," she said, reaching over and stroking Aiden's hand with her free one, the other hand holding Jim's tightly.

Jim merely nodded and scooped Aiden up. Aiden didn't even stir when Jim kissed him on the cheek and carried him off to his little bedroom. When Jim came back, Melinda was lying on her side, and when he climbed into bed, she snuggled up close to him like she had so many times, her face in his chest. She took a deep breath and said nothing.

"You feel a little warm," Jim noted, stroking her forehead. "Do you feel sick?"

Melinda nodded. "Yeah, a little. I think it's the ghost, though. There's a difference between a ghost sick and a pregnancy sick." Spirits had caused her to be nearly deathly sick before, but this one was affecting her emotional state, too, and she hated that even worse.

"I just don't feel right."

Jim put his hand on the bag of her head and held it tightly to him, kissing her forehead six times, from left to right. His lips lingered there momentarily before he spoke. "Mentally or physically?"

"Both," Melinda replied, her face buried tightly in Jim's neck now. She breathed in his scent; that always calmed her a bit, even now. "Erin said there's another ghost, and I think _she's_ the one who gave me that vision… but I haven't seen her yet. I'm thinking maybe they were killed by the same person."

Jim sighed deeply. "Whoever gave you that vision, it scared me to death, Mel." His voice was wavering, and that scared Melinda. "I've seen ghosts hurt you ever since we first met. It scared me then, but this scared me worse."

Melinda let out a humorless chuckle. "It scared me, too, believe me. I'm okay, though, really." She wasn't. She _wasn't_ okay, and Jim knew it.

"Melinda, she left marks on your neck. Whoever it was, you were practically _strangled_ ," Jim pointed out. Melinda could tell he was growing angry; not at her, but at the ghost, and at the fact that he constantly had to watch his wife get hurt. "I haven't been that scared in a while. Not since you were almost buried alive in the tunnels a few years ago."

Jim was stroking her hair as he spoke, and finally, she felt herself getting sleepy. She let out a yawn, and Jim's tense facial expression relaxed into a small smile. "Go to sleep, babe. I'll be right here."

She didn't have to be told twice. She rolled over onto her side, holding Jim's hand tightly. She fell into a dreamless sleep for the first time in a while, Jim's hand stroking her hair.

* * *

The next day, Melinda went out to lunch with Delia. Jim had begged for her to let him stay home with her, but she refused. She told him she was going out to lunch with Delia, but in truth Delia didn't know yet. Luckily, Delia said yes immediately, no hesitation. They hadn't seen each other much in the last couple weeks, so Melinda was pretty excited to see her best friend.

The sleep had Melinda in a decent mood. She had awoken that morning in Jim's arms again, snuggled against his chest, his body wrapped protectively around her with the baby in her stomach in between them. No nightmares. No visions. No being awoken by spirits. It was divine and did wonders for Melinda's mood the next morning.

Her and Delia went to Lento's. They talked mostly about the baby; Melinda was pretty sure Delia was as excited as her and Jim were, and it was amazing. Delia asked when they would find out the sex, and Melinda told her in a couple of weeks and that she would let her know. They ate and talked for almost three hours, Delia nursing a glass of wine and Melinda a Sprite.

The amazing mood Melinda was in lasted until she got home, and the moment she walked in the door, she felt a presence. _Well, that was nice while it lasted,_ she thought.

"Look, Erin, if you can't give me any answers, you really need to leave me alone," Melinda said drily.

But the voice that answered her wasn't Erin's. It was someone else, and it was coming from the kitchen. Melinda rushed in to see a spirit she'd never seen before, standing by the refrigerator. She was also petite, just like Erin, except with dark brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. She, also like Erin, was stunning.

"I'm not Erin," the girl said before Melinda rushed into the kitchen.

"I can see that," Melinda replied. "What's your name?"

The girl watched Melinda intently as she hung her coat up. "My name is Rachel. Rachel Willis."

Rachel didn't seem to have nearly the attitude that Erin did, and that was some relief to Melinda. She wasn't sure she could handle _two_ ghosts like that. "How can I help you?" Melinda asked, taking a few steps closer to the girl. Sadness came off Rachel in waves, and Melinda felt that cloud hanging over her head again, the same one she had felt the day before.

"Can you please tell my baby I'm sorry? And that I didn't mean to leave her?" Tears were in Rachel's beautiful brown eyes.

Melinda nodded, trying to speak around the huge lump in her throat. _This poor girl,_ she thought. "Of course. What's your baby's name?" Melinda grabbed a pencil and piece of paper from the junk drawer.

"Audrey. Audrey Kate Willis. She lives at 1401 South Avery Street in Bay Ridge, with my parents." Melinda scribbled as Rachel spoke, hoping she could read her own handwriting later.

Melinda nodded in understanding. "I can do that. Was it you who gave me that vision? While I was in the bathtub?" she asked with caution, sitting down at the small kitchen table. Her feet were killing her.

Rachel nodded, her eyes falling down to the floor. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know how else to show you. I was too scared to come to you, until I saw how you helped that other girl. The blonde one."

"How else can I help you?" Melinda asked her, prepared to write more details down if needed.

"Just find my baby girl. Then we'll talk." Rachel gave her a small, shy and slightly sad smile before disappearing, and Melinda was alone.

* * *

Melinda could feel herself in a dream, although it almost felt like a vision. She had fallen asleep on the couch, just briefly, until Jim came home for lunch, and only slept for what felt like two seconds before she found herself having a nightmare.

 _In her dream, Melinda saw Rachel lying on a table, her arms strapped down. A tall man in a long white lab coat was standing over her. Melinda watched as the man shoved a handful of about twenty pills down Rachel's throat and forced her to swallow them, even though she was on the verge of choking to death. The look in Rachel's eyes was pure terror and confusion._

" _Now please, Mrs. Willis. This is for your own good, and your husband is expecting only the best care from us," the man said. Melinda couldn't see his face, but his voice was low and gruff._

 _For a moment, Rachel appeared to be falling asleep, but then her eyes opened, and she started to whimper. Her cries soon turned into a horrific seizing, violent, with every vein in Rachel's head and neck bulging._

 _Then, stillness. Rachel was still, her eyes empty and unseeing._

Melinda woke up disoriented, feeling _her_ head about to explode, so nauseous she was afraid to sit up. She did anyway and then rose into a standing position and made it to the kitchen before she collapsed on the floor, her head hitting the floor with a loud _thwack_. Everything went black, and suddenly, she was shaking.


End file.
